California Biographies

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin 
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from 
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176


WILLIAM GIBBINS URIDGE. Whatever their nationality or previous environment the citizens of 
Fresno are one in their admiration for their home city and their faith in its possibilities. 
Among all of them none is more loyal to the city or more enthusiastic in its praise than William 
G. Uridge, who has made his home in California for a long period and has witnessed the gradual 
development of local industries as well as the steady growth of population. Of English birth 
and lineage, his settlement in Fresno was somewhat an accident, but his continuance here is 
from choice. He is a grandson of Henry Gibbins, who for many years and until his death 
acted as vice-chairman of the board of directors of the Prudential Assurance Company of Lon- 
don, England, his successor now being Sir Henry Harben, a cousin of Joseph Chamberlain, the 
colonial secretary of England. 

From the homestead of the Uridge family in county Sussex, fifty miles south of London, Will- 
iam G. Uridge started for the United States in the spring of 1885. Though intending to settle 
in this country, he had no definite point in view. While on shipboard he met a family en route 
for California and from them he heard for the first time concerning Fresno. On inquiring as 
to the place, they drew an attractive word picture of comfortable homes surrounded by vine- 
yards and fig trees lying within a sun-kissed valley. Attracted by the description, he at once 
resolved to visit the place, and May of 1885 found him investigating conditions and prospects 
at Fresno. The favorable -impression at first formed has been deepened during his residence 
here and he has found his liking for the city, like good wine, increases with age. More than 
ever before, he now believes in its great future. While business and pleasure have caused him to 
visit many parts of California, he still believes Fresno to be the best county in the state. This 
is not alone from the standpoint of a capitalist seeking a field for investment, but he believes 
the place to offer particularly great advantages for a poor man, on account of the twenty-acre 
system. 

As a member of the Chamber of Commerce Mr. Uridge has been connected with various 
movements for the benefit of the city. He is the owner of real estate not only here, but also in 
other parts of the county. Soon after arriving here he bought a tract of raw land, which he 
set out in a vineyard and then sold. Later he bought another unimproved tract at Orangedale, 
Fresno county, where he now owns one hundred and twenty-six acres under cultivation to or- 
anges. As an addition to Fresno he laid out North Park and North Park Extension, com- 
prising twenty acres altogether, all of which has been sold out in town lots, and at this writing 
promises to be the best residence part of the city at no distant day. Besides his fruit inter- 
ests he is connected with other enterprises. He was one of the incorporators of the Central Cali- 
fornia Redwood Company, and also the Western Pacific Lumber Company, and is at this writing 
president of both companies, being thus actively associated with the building of the companies' 
mills in Tulare county, east of Porterville, where the companies engage in the manufacture of red- 
wood and pine lumber. Another enterprise which he assisted in incorporating is the Golden 
Gate Brick Company, in which he holds the office of president, and which has its plant at 
Antioch, Contra Costa county. The company's specialty is the manufacture of sand lime brick, 
which is practically an artificial sandstone. 

Reared in the faith of the Church of England, Mr. Uridge is now connected with the Fresno 
Episcopal Church and holds the office of senior warden therein. Socially, he was one of the 
organizers in the incorporation of the Sequoia Club and is now its vice-president. Since be- 
coming a citizen of the United States he has affiliated with the Republican party. He was mar- 
ried in Fresno to Mildred, the daughter of John Finnell, of Napa county, Cal.